


Bathtime Gourry

by DragonsandInk



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Bromance, Did you know Zel is 15 when they meet?, Gen, Gourry is not, Gourry too, No Homo, Surprisingly calm, Zel is super shy, Zel might be OC, many feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8240312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsandInk/pseuds/DragonsandInk
Summary: Zelgadis has noticed that Gourry acts different when they're in the bath together.  A lot less scatterbrained and a lot more calm and attentive.  The two find through their travels that they can confide in one another.





	1. Breaking those Walls

Zelgadis had not thought much of his male traveling companion for a while. As far as he was concerned, Gourry was nothing more than Lina’s stalwart bodyguard who was depriving some poor village of its idiot. He had been little more than a nuisance when looking for the Philosopher’s Stone and afterwards his reveal of being the owner of the Sword of Light only assured him that his place in the group was likely permanent.

He talked with Gourry about as much as he talked with anybody, which was very little. When they did eventually speak more than battle commands to one another or cursory small talk it was generally forced and awkward, an attempt to find someone similar to one another that ultimately failed. Gourry, in his opinion, wasn’t intelligent enough to hold up his end of the conversation.

Which was what he thought until they visited the bathhouse together for the first time.

Lina had insisted that they go late in the evening, going so far as to bribe the owners of the bathhouse to keep it open for a while longer. He knew that this was likely because of Lina’s embarrassment over her own proportions, but couldn’t help but be relieved himself. He would have gone late anyway, or at least waited until the men’s side was empty, but since their leader had been the one to instigate the late night bath he didn’t have to face the awkwardness of slipping away during dinner or some such just to wipe away the grime from the day.

“Fwaah! I haven’t had a good bath in too long!” Lina said excitedly. She and Amelia had gotten buckets and stuffed them with towels, soap, and brushes and were excitedly skipping to the women’s door. “You two will probably be done sooner than us, huh? So how about we just go back to the inn when we’re done rather than waiting for each other?”

Gourry gave a compliant “okay!” while Zelgadis nodded his head with no comment. He hadn’t realized it at first, but now it was becoming very clear that Gourry was going to be going in the bathhouse with him and he was having second thoughts. Perhaps he should just wait until the older man was done and go in alone afterwards. Like Lina said, they wouldn’t be fussing over their hair and nails for as long as the girls likely would be so he probably wouldn’t have to wait long.

He stole a glance at the taller man. Then again, Gourry did have all that hair he had to wash if he wanted it to keep its sunny shine and who knew how long that would take?  
“See you in the morning!” Amelia said with a chipper smile before turning to follow Lina.

The boys went the opposite direction and entered the changing room. Having worked himself up about the issue, Zelgadis sat down on one of the benches and lowered his hood but did no more. Out of force of habit he’d brought his sword, as had Gourry, perhaps he could look over the steel to make sure it was sharpened to the finest point or take care of his wirey hair while Gourry was washing.

After a minute, he was aware that the back of his neck had begun to burn and turned to see Gourry staring at him with a worried expression, towel around his waist. “Are you not coming in?”

Automatically, his hands moved up to his cowl but he stifled the urge to pull it up around his face, tugging at it nervously instead. “No, it’s fine. I can wait until you’re done.”

The puzzled expression remained. “But it would be better if we just went in together, right? We can wash each other’s backs.”

The thought of such a normal human interaction made his stomach twist. If eyes were bad enough, touch was often worse. He could almost feel people’s repulsion towards him ripple across their soft skin, as if his stony complexion was hot and they wanted to tear away from him as fast as possible.

“No, I’ll just wait.”

He looked away, pulling his sword, still in its sheathe, onto his lap and fully preparing to spend the next half hour or so doing idle, unnecessary tasks with what he had.

“You know you don’t have to be so afraid of me.”

The shock registered first and he spun to look at Gourry, who had spoken. His eyes weren’t in the wide, starstruck expression he’d gotten used to, but his mouth was set in a firm line and he seemed, for the first time, very serious. Then the anger registered.

“I’m not afraid.”

That smile returned, though now it seemed to have some kind of double meaning. “Good! Because neither am I!”

And like that, Gourry forced him into the same exposure he was in and they walked into the bath together. There was a stone wall between their side and the girls, but they could still hear their loud laughter and happy chatting. Zelgadis thought immediately that it would get annoying very quickly, but instead it added a nice ambiance to the warm room and still water.

He made a point to sit in the corner, away from the door. Gourry sat next to him. Immediately the blond relaxed into the water, resting his arms on the edges of the pool, his hair spreading out on the surface of the water like an octopus’ tentacles stretching. On the other hand, Zelgadis seemed to only become tenser at the proximity to another person without the safety of his robes covering the grotesqueness of his body.

He wasn’t certain what to do though. Gourry seemed pleased enough to just sit there and wasn’t even attempting conversation so it would feel awkward if he just got up and moved to the other side. He wasn’t worried about hurting the swordsman’s feelings but if he moved and Gourry decided to follow for whatever reason it would just make the situation that much worse.

Soon enough he was thinking that perhaps it was worth it or at least he could work himself up to get angry at Gourry and tell him to just leave him alone. Somehow, the swordsman beat him to the punch.

“I thought you said you’re not afraid?”

He growled, channeling the demonic part of him to hopefully scare the other away, though the blond seemed completely unperturbed. “What is there to be afraid of, exactly?”

Gourry rose an eyebrow. “You tell me. Why did you want to wait until I was done to wash?”

Zelgadis snorted. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Hmm, well how would you know that if you don’t tell me first?”

His icy blue eyes turned up to look at his cerulean ones, seeing nothing but calm interest and reliability in them. The expression seemed almost foreign on his face compared to the dumb looks that were most commonly seen there and that was unnerving all on its own.

Eventually, he turned away, gritting his teeth. He was angry at himself for even thinking of confiding in someone who would likely blab all his secrets to the girls the moment he got his first chance. What good would come from talking to a man whose intelligence matched only that of a garden tool?

“It’s none of your business.”

“Is it because you think I’ll hate you?”

“No!” he whipped his head around so fast that if his skin weren’t made of stone he likely would have given himself whiplash. “What—what gave you that idea!”

But Gourry was smiling again, that frightfully knowing smile that put all other similar looks into consideration and set the chimera on edge.

“It’s okay, you know. I’ll admit, I thought you were scary when we first met.”

A smile stretched across Zelgadis’ face, even if he felt like doing the opposite at the admission. “Yes, that’s what I thought. I’m hideous, right? It’s better to just come out and say it.”

Gourry scowled, and unlike the whiny one he had when fighting over food with Lina this one looked admonishing. “That was what I thought when we first met. But I’ve gotten to know you a little since then, and I’ve gotten used to you too.”

“So you say.”

“You’ve gotten used to us a little too, you know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Gourry leaned back a little. Zelgadis hadn’t even noticed how the larger man had been almost pinning him into the corner, as if keeping him from escaping from the conversation, even if he could simply stand up and climb out of the pool if he wanted to get away.

“Well you don’t wear your hood and mask anymore if it’s just us. Even sometimes when we’re in a restaurant you’ll take them off if you’re with us.”

“It’s not easy to eat with a mask on, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Still, you could keep your hood up, but you don’t. And you almost don’t wear them at all when we’re travelling outside of cities.”

He had no answer to that. He had noticed, of course, but while they were travelling it was stifling to wear his full ensemble all the time and when they were eating generally the stares were not toward him but Gourry and Lina’s atrocious eating habits. It wasn’t that he’d grown used to taking it off, but rather that he forgot to put it back on.

Gourry placed his hand on Zelgadis’ shoulder and he shied away. The hand stayed firmly on his stony skin, unafraid to hold tight because he knew it wouldn’t harm the younger of them. Gourry tried to make Zel look him in the eye.

“See? I’m not the one who’s afraid. You are.”

They were silent a moment, the only sounds being the splashing and laughter of the girls next door, juxtaposing the mood that the two men were in. After a bit, Zel looked away with a frustrated sigh.

“That…seems to be correct. Unfortunately.”

Gourry softened his grip on Zel’s shoulder, giving him a wide smile then a pat on the back. “It’s okay. I’m afraid of a lot of things too, you know. But I promise that you don’t have to be afraid of us. We won’t judge you for a curse that someone else put on you. Well, I guess I can only really speak for myself.”

Zel looked up at him and Gourry thought he could see relief and a bit of hopeful despair pass through his eyes before he turned away again, this time with an embarrassed tinge to his bluish skin.

Gourry, for his part, didn’t miss a beat. “So, do you need help washing your back?”

*

Lina and Amelia walked out of the bath together. Lina’s hair was still up, the ends dripping like subdued rain, and their skin was warm from the water they had soaked in for a good amount of time. They were considering going back to the restaurant and getting a glass of milk for the cool drink to offset the warmth they felt when they bumped into the boys leaving at the same time.

Gourry was his regular perky self, minus his armor that he’d left in his bedroom for the evening, but something seemed to be wrong with Zelgadis, though they couldn’t put their fingers on what it was.

Of course, the very slight difference was enough to pick up on and was cause for worry in their youngest member. “Mister Zelgadis, is everything okay?”

He seemed to have snapped out of some kind of reverie because he blinked at Amelia as though he hadn’t seen her standing there until that moment. He looked at her, at her worry for him even if she didn’t know what was wrong, at Lina’s slightly tilted head that meant she was curious as well, and at Gourry who was grinning down at him as if encouraging him to answer.

He sighed with exasperation. “Yes. I’m fine. Can we go now?” He was certain these people would have him tearing out his hair by the time he found his cure.

Zelgadis stomped away, but not so quickly that his friends couldn’t keep up with him. Amelia, shocked by the odd behavior but not one to be deterred, quickly hurried behind while Lina hung back with a suspicious look at her bodyguard.

“What did you guys talk about in there?”

Gourry looked confused at the question for a moment, any trace of his seriousness left behind with his wet towel in the dressing room. He eventually shrugged, taking long strides to catch up with the other two who had gone ahead.

“You know. Just guy stuff.”


	2. Giving Way

Gourry held up a bottle of wine, grinning happily.  He’d managed to smuggle it in under the girl’s noses and pull it out while they were in the dressing room, unveiling it as if it were his own brand of magic trick.  As a reward, Zelgadis smiled while he was unclasping his cloak.

It was while he was pouring their glasses, leaning over the edge of the men’s side pool, when his friend said, “I didn’t know you drink.”

He tipped his head to show he’d heard though his hands stayed steady as they poured.  “Hmm, only sometimes.  I haven’t much lately because we don’t visit bars often.  Oh, and I suppose I like to take my time when drinking beer with my meals, but I can’t do that when eating with Lina.”

Zelgadis nodded, taking the glass in hand and swirling it a bit before sipping.  There was a moment where he considered the taste while Gourry waited patiently for the verdict.

“It’s good.  What is this?”

Pleased with the praise, the swordsman puffed out his chest a bit.  “Red-Eye, aged four years.”

After commenting on the taste a bit more, where each found that the other was no amateur when it came to good wine, they settled into the water.  They sipped and closed their eyes, letting the warm steam drift over their cheeks and listening to the chatter that the girls were enthralled in coming from the room next door.

“You’re different when we do this.”

Gourry opened his eyes and tipped his head to Zel, who was studiously looking away from him.

“What do you mean?”

The chimera huffed.  “You’re not as…” he seemed to struggle finding a phrase that wouldn’t offend his teammate.  “…not as much as a jellyfish brain as usual.”

Gourry laughed, causing a brush of relief to come over Zel.  “Yeah, I’m not.  But it’s different when I’m in the bathhouse, you know?”

Relief turned to frustration.  “I’m not sure I do.”  His stony fingers tapped the wineglass a couple times, making the glass sing, before he looked up again.  “You’re not like that though, not really.  At least not when we’re in the bath like this.  I don’t know why you act like that when we’re around the girls.”

He hadn’t actually asked a question, as articulate as usual, but Gourry could see what he wanted to know in his eyes and in the way he held his shoulders a bit back.  Well, it’s not like he was keeping it a secret, after all.  And this he didn’t mind talking about all that much.

“Well,” he started and didn’t miss the twitch of Zel’s ears as he spoke up, “I suppose it’s because of the way my master trained me.  The most important lesson he taught me, or at least the lesson _he_ thought was most important, is to always be on guard.  He said that a part of my attention should always be on my surroundings and whether someone will attack me out of the blue.”

“It’s not a bad lesson.  Are you saying that’s why you’re always so…out of focus?”

A fond smile appeared on the swordsman’s face.  “Yes, my master trained me pretty roughly.  Even when I was at school or at home or even just taking a walk in the forest he would jump me suddenly so I would have to defend.  I guess I just got used to paying attention to other things than what’s right in front of me.”

For a while he became lost in memories, sipping his wine leisurely.  His master hadn’t been part of his family but that was probably why he had been so obstinate to be trained by him in the first place.  Most of his family had been trained by their parents in preparation of taking up the Sword of Light.  His brother had followed this tradition and perhaps that was why he sought out someone else to teach him the way of the sword.  He hadn’t wanted to be fighting against his family all the time.

His master had been a significantly short, old man who, despite how he looked, had been well known for his sword style and infamous for his teaching methods.  It was said that his technique was flawless but the training in order to wield it in such a way was so rigorous that no one who came to be taught by him lasted long before giving up.  Now that he thought about it, his master had been a few peas short of a casserole as well.

He had surpassed his master by the time he left home, the only one of his students to do so.  It was bittersweet leaving him behind since he had nothing to do with the issues that were forcing him to go, but his master assured Gourry that he understood the situation and wished him luck.  The only reason that he would have for going back to his hometown would be to check on his master, who would be getting up in years by now.

He felt distant suddenly, wondering whether the old man was okay or if perhaps he’d already passed by now.  He was a sturdy old fellow, but he was a grandfather with a great-grandchild on the way when Gourry had left, and he didn’t have the privilege of magic to slow his aging process.  He felt his stomach roil uncomfortably at the thought that his master could very well be dead and he had no idea.

“So why are you different during the bath?”

He was jerked out of his reverie by the question.  They had been sitting in silence for a bit when Zel spoke up again.  He took a breath, steadying himself and bringing the glass of fine wine to his lips for a moment before nodding.

“The bath house was always a safe place.  Master said he wouldn’t attack me here and he never did.  So I’m not as tense when I’m here.  Or when I’m in battle for that matter, since that’s different altogether.”

There was an agreeable nod.  “A safe place…”

“Who trained you in sword skills?”

He saw a brief expression that came from recalling a good memory before it darkened again.  “I trained myself at first, but then Rodimus taught me proper technique.”  There was a moment where he hesitated before flashing a wobbly smile.  “I’m nowhere near as good as you are though.  I suppose that’s the difference between having a formal education and teaching yourself though.”

“What!  You’re a great swordsman,” Gourry protested and meant it too.  Zel could be counted on in a fight.  A thought struck him and he grinned.  “If you want though, I can always give you a lesson or two.”

His eyes widened and then, as if he realized that he’d been acting so excited about it, he turned so that his hair covered his face from Gourry’s angle.  Though he wasn’t quick enough that the older man didn’t catch a glimpse of his embarrassed blush.  “I’ll…think about it.”

“Well, just let me know if you want to go through with it, okay?”

He was answered with a nod.  On the other side of the wall he heard a loud splash and laughed at what was inevitably Lina throwing Amelia into the pool.  He was always so glad that everyone got along so well in their group.

He bumped his shoulder against Zel’s and gave him a sly grin.  “Well, have any more questions for me before my brains turn to mush again?”

The wine swirled around in the glass again and Zel made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and laughter.  “Actually…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter than the first chapter but after this the exposition kinda stuff is out of the way.  
> I really don't know if anything about Gourry's home life has been even mentioned in either the show or the manga other than that Gourry and his brother were both available to inherit the Sword of Light and their family was split between who they wanted to inherit it. I read somewhere also that this was why Gourry left home in the first place so I just kinda took it and ran, haha.


	3. Loose Ends

Gourry stopped, bucket between his arm and side and towel flung over his shoulder.  Zel had gone ahead of him, for once not quite excited but eager to get into the bath.  It had been raining in the area the past few days, enough to flood the river nearby, and running into some nosy monsters was just asking to get mud in places he didn’t think mud could get.

They were dirty and soggy by the time they got to the inn and they were all willing to put off a proper meal in order to get clean first.  Lina and Gourry had enough sense to let the restaurant know what they wanted beforehand so there would be no wait when they got back and they had reserved rooms and dumped their bags in but they had not wasted another minute before locating the town bathhouse.

Zel had been itching at the areas where larger pebbles stuck out on his skin, the mud having seeped into the space between them and irritating him.  Gourry, noticing the quiet annoyance, urged him to go ahead of him.  A recommendation that was taken up hastily and with no retort or complaint.  He was a little more used to conditions like this and so didn’t feel the same nervous need to get clean and took his time to get his things in order and make sure the girls were okay before going into the men’s changing room.

Only to find Zelgadis sitting on one of the benches in front of the cubbies, hood up and picking at the mud on his hands.

“Hey, what’re you doing?”

He jumped and Gourry didn’t miss how his hands went up to pull the hood lower before realizing who he was and relaxing.  He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Ah…just…waiting.”

He strained his ears and, after a moment, could hear deep voices coming from behind the curtain that separated the changing room and the pool.  He knitted his eyebrows together.  He knew that Zel had a deep set fear of other people seeing him, especially when he had nothing to cover him, but he had thought they’d dealt with this particular issue a while ago.  They didn’t always get the bath to themselves and Gourry had to convince Zel that if they stayed far away from everyone and made sure to focus on chatting and washing quickly that it should be okay.  He had been extremely nervous about it before, and Gourry would be lying if he said that it was a perfect solution; but it was the best either could come up with when the owners could not be bribed to keep the bath open after hours or there was just a constant stream of people coming in.

As far as he knew, there hadn’t been any problems with this particular issue in a while.  It was still an issue, probably always would be until Zelgadis found his cure, but there hadn’t been any outright protests like this in a while.

“There’s no need,” he said, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder and feeling him flinch beneath the fabric, “We paid so we have just as much a right to be here as they do.  We can just sit in the back of the pool and get clean real quick.  I know I want all this mud off me as quickly as possible!”

He watched as Zel’s fingers fumbled around one another, nails scraping against the larger stones on the back of his hand or rubbing circles on a smoother part of his skin.  When he spoke it was almost so soft that Gourry couldn’t hear it.  “I’d rather wait.”

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, ruffling his blond locks in the process.  Zel was difficult to talk to in the best of times.  When he really didn’t want to discuss something it was like coaxing a bear out of its cave before the hibernation season was over.  It was a bad idea in the first place and a single wrong step meant that he’d be getting the brunt of the claws and teeth as he lashed out.  He didn’t mind.  He’d known a man named Thomas some time ago who was similar.  He hadn’t as many issues as Zel had, but was prone to switching moods faster than anyone else in his garrison, going from smiling and laughing at something someone said one moment to snarling and cursing in the next at the seemingly most ineffectual comments.

Gourry had gotten to know Thomas quite well and knew that he was actually diagnosed with a condition that made him bipolar, something that no white mage could cure out of him.  It was part of his personality, he’d explained with a shrug once and Gourry had taken it in stride.  Especially since, even if Thomas got angry he would always apologize afterwards if he felt that he had crossed the line at any point.

He didn’t think that Zelgadis was bipolar, rather that he was just in an almost constant state of depression that caused him to have a hard time looking on the bright side of anything and snapping at things that took him out of his comfort zone.  It wasn’t an unnatural state of being for a teenager, and especially for one who had a little more to worry about than some pimples and their parents pushing them around.

He had been like that once too, he reflected, and at that thought made the decision not to push his friend into talking.  Instead, he sat down on the bench next to the lavender-haired boy and set the bucket down at his feet.  Zelgadis watched him with hesitancy, as if waiting for Gourry to prod at him and dreading it.

Instead, he pulled out a cord from within the bucket and gave him his best grin.  “So, do you mind showing me how to tie up my hair properly?”

His expression was so thankful, so happy, that it made Gourry’s chest tighten a bit before his face smoothed over with years of practice at trying to be the heartless, cold person everyone assumed he was at first glance.

He hadn’t argued, but had chastised Gourry for not knowing how to tie up his own hair when he insisted on keeping it so long.  He spent some time showing him how to tie it in a low ponytail, a high ponytail, and a bun.  He’d also made an attempt to teach him how to braid, but he was having a hard time doing it with his own tresses and Zelgadis’ hair was a bit too short to practice on for someone who was new to it.

Apparently he had learned how to handle long hair from his mother.  Not that he’d ever had such long hair, but he had always liked running a brush through his mother’s hair and helping her put it up.  He’d liked the little trinkets and pins that she would stick into her buns or clip her bangs back with.

He even admitted that when he was younger he would take some of the clips from his mother’s jewelry box and would pin his own bangs back out of his hair.  Gourry had laughed at the thought of Zelgadis proudly wearing pretty baubles in his hair and got a snicker out of the other.  The other kids had laughed too, which was why he stopped, he said, though he seemed more wistful rather than irked at the memory.

They had gotten so relaxed, almost having forgotten about the mud that was still caked all over their skin, that when the curtain to the bathhouse opened they didn’t notice at first.

“Tsk, what’s wrong freak?  Don’t got anywhere else to be?”

Zelgadis froze up, his fingers stopping mid-braid except for a single suspicious twitch in the direction of his sword propped against the bench.

Gourry looked at the three men that had just come out, skin still steaming slightly in the cool air.  They seemed like rather plain men, probably from different jobs around town.  One of them had a distended belly that could only come from drinking too much alcohol in a lifetime, another had a mustache that was combed in the way that said he spent more time on his facial hair than anything else in his life, the other had a bald patch starting to show on the left side of his head.  He wasn’t certain whether the massive sideburns were an attempt to distract from the bald patch or he was just as meticulous about his hair as the other was.

“What, can’t even talk anymore?”

“Heh, maybe his tongue’s made out of rocks too.”

Zelgadis had turned his head down, but his hands had fallen to his lap.  Gourry was certain that the men couldn’t sense the magical aura building up in the room, or didn’t notice how those pebble strewn hands were creeping towards the golden hilt of his sword beside him.  Two were scowling, seeming honestly distressed by Zel’s quiet presence while mustache man was grinning and had his arms crossed over his chest, not bothering to grab his sagging towel.

If something wasn’t done soon, he was fairly certain that Zel would either pull a Lina and destroy the bathhouse, or they would have some maimed men on their hands.  And perhaps the scariest part of that thought was that he wasn’t sure he would stop him.

“You’d better not be hanging around here long.  Your kind ain’t welcome here.  This is a good town, with good people.  We don’t need people like you around,” the pot-bellied man said, nervously shuffling over to his cubby, although unwilling to turn his back.

“And what kind of person is that?”

Zel’s hand stopped and he turned his head so that he could see Gourry from the edge of his hood.  It was a sight he would never see again, he was certain.  He looked angrier than he’d ever seen the jellyfish brain, eyes thin and mouth in a hard-pressed line.  And somehow, the braids that had been done on his left side but not his right and his bangs pulled back into a poof on the other side did little to detract from the dangerous aura he was letting loose.

The men gulped at the undeterred gaze.  Gourry stood and the pot-bellied man jumped back into the cubbies in fright, shaking the whole frame.  The other two had turned pale right quick.

Blue eyes settled on each man one at a time, counting the breaths until he rested his hand on his sword hilt.  “Maybe you’re mistaken on what it means to be a person.  Because at the moment we’re not the most inhuman ones in the room.”

Zelgadis lifted his head so he could get a good look at the men, and perhaps so they could get a good look at him as well.  Their eyes flickered towards him without fail, taking sharp breaths before turning back to Gourry as they heard the click of his sword being taken out from his sheathe.

“I think it would be best if you left.”

The men didn’t protest.  They didn’t even bother to grab their things before leaving the dressing room and probably wouldn’t remember that they were only wearing towels until they were standing outside and shaking in the wet air.  Gourry was pleased with the thought that they would probably be too afraid to come back in to get their things as he slid his sword back into place with a satisfied grin.

“Gourry…”

He looked down to see that Zelgadis has turned his head away again, his hood covering everything except a few lavender locks.  He was worried that he had done something wrong, overstepped some unspoken boundary about defending one’s honor though he had only been acting how he thought was right at the time.

“Thank you.”

And with that he stood up and began getting undressed, as if determined to pretend that none of that had happened, from the townsmen to his quiet thanks.  Gourry smiled, as the braids in his hair were evidence enough that it had in fact happened.

*

Later that night, the boys finally joined the girls at the restaurant only to find out that they had been there long enough already for Lina to eat her fill plus dessert.  Zel answered why they’d taken so long vaguely, mostly having to do with mud and pesky chimera skin, while Gourry persistently begged to let him practice braiding on Lina’s hair.  Though when asked about that he again kept things clear as mud about his sudden interest in doing his hair or where he’d learned it in the first place.


	4. Just a Snip Here

“You need to do something about this.”

Lina stood with her hands on her hips, scowling at Gourry whose only defense was a sad pout.  She was talking about his hair.  It had grown almost past his hips and his bangs were almost lower than his shoulders now and while it was still just as silky as usual it had proved to be an issue during their last battle.

It wasn’t a particularly difficult battle but Gourry had been cornered by several monsters while the others were busy.  Normally it wouldn’t have been an issue.  Gourry was a skilled swordsman and was an expert in battle situations but his bangs had been getting in the way so that it was difficult to watch his right side.  And one had even managed to grab a fistful of his swaying hair and snap his neck back so that he was completely open for an attack from the front.  If it weren’t for a well-timed Digger Volt from Amelia he might have been seriously injured.

Lina had nearly killed him herself once the actual danger had passed, but hadn’t said anything about fixing the problem until they got the next town.  Now, as they were about to separate to the male and female sides, Lina had planted herself in the way of the boys, who respectfully stopped before plowing her over.  Gourry, however, was wishing that he’d managed to slip past her.  Though he didn’t doubt that if she was determined enough she would follow him all the way into the men’s bath.

“I’m serious!  You have to cut your hair tonight.  If you don’t come out of there with it in order then I’ll take the scissors to you myself!”

“Perish the thought,” Zelgadis muttered low enough so that only the blond standing next to him could hear.

“I don’t cut my hair though, Lina.  I haven’t done it in a long time and I like it a certain way,” he protested, ignoring his friend’s quip in the face of the fiery sorceress.

She pulled a pair of scissors from her wash bucket and thrust them in his face. “Don’t care.  Cut it.  See you later.”

The boys parted so that she could walk through them and join Amelia, who had gone ahead into the bath without her.  Gourry was left looking sadly at the scissors in his hand, any excitement to get clean drained.

Zelgadis glanced between the scissors and his hesitant friend.  “Would you like some help?”

Sparkling blue eyes were turned toward him as the swordsman clutched the scissors to his chest like some kind of toy. “Really?”

A smile tickled at the corners of the chimera’s mouth.  “Yes, really.”

A while later had them both sitting on their upturned buckets with Zelgadis behind Gourry and the scissors in hand.  Gourry had washed and brushed his hair but they wanted to get this over with so they hadn’t gotten anything else done.

Zel combed his fingers through the blond locks, silently enjoying the silky feel.  He couldn’t help the jealousy that settled in the back of his throat.  What he wouldn’t give to have hair like this again.

He brandished the scissors, intending to simply cut so that Gourry’s hair would match how it had looked when they first met, but thought better of it at the last moment.  “Gourry?  How would you like me to cut this?”

He couldn’t see the older man’s expression.  Normally he would have thought that his companion would have a puzzled expression on, but when he was relaxed and thinking more clearly like this he didn’t know what to expect.

“…you don’t think we could just tell Lina that we cut my hair and leave it at that?”

This wasn’t exactly the answer he had been expecting.  He set the scissors down against his knee.  “Why don’t you want your hair cut?”

There was a laugh and Zelgadis could see his shoulders shake, but there seemed to be a lack of mirth in the sound.  “It’s kind of…hard to talk about?”

There was a pause.  Zel was out of touch when it came to talking about feelings or having heart to hearts and wasn’t entirely certain what to do.  Eventually he settled on a common phrase.  “Do you want to talk about it?”

There was a pause before a real laugh burst from the other man and he turned so that they could look at each other eye to eye.  “You’re not very good at comforting people.”  He was answered with an annoyed grunt and laughed some more.  “It’s okay.  I think I’m just so used to trying to forget my past that it’s kind of hard to think about.”

Zelgadis’ interest was officially piqued.  But again he wasn’t certain how to approach the topic.  He didn’t usually like to talk about his life before travelling with the others and no one in the group pushed talking about their pasts unless it came up and was relevant.  But because of it there was always a certain rift between them.

“I don’t really want to go into it,” Gourry started with a shake of his head, “But I can at least say this much.  I haven’t cut my hair since I left home.  Well, I cut my bangs a couple times when I was in the army, but since I became a mercenary I haven’t bothered.”

He dragged his fingers through the golden length, starting at his scalp and going all the way down to where it hung around his hips.  The ends were rather badly split and damaged since he’d never actually learned how to take care of long hair but he couldn’t bring himself to cut it.  His mother had been the last one to cut his hair for him.

For some reason he remembered it very clearly.  He had been sitting on the porch with a bib tucked into his shirt and his mother’s hands carefully snipping the ends of his shoulder length hair.  His brother and father had been practicing with wooden swords in the front yard, sweating in the warm sun and laughing over something trivial that he couldn’t hear.  His uncle had come out onto the porch with a tray of lemonade, frowning at the two in the yard but then smiling at him and his mother and offering them a glass.

It wasn’t quite picturesque.  He still recalled his uncle sniffing and saying that his brother shouldn’t even bother training since Gourry would be the one to inherit the Sword of Light.  His mother chastised him, saying how no matter who inherited the sword the other could still become a swordsman of their own right.  His mother had cut his bangs lopsided and before she could fix them the other two had joined them on the porch where his uncle repeated the comment and started up a heated argument between himself and his father.  His brother had downed a glass of lemonade, cast one look at him that was more challenging than anything else, and went in the house.  His mother set the scissors down and planted herself between the brothers so Gourry had taken it to mean that his haircut was over.

After he’d left home, the thought of how long his hair was growing had been the last thing on his mind.  He hadn’t noticed how long it had gotten until a man named Trill, who had just joined their platoon as a replacement for a fallen man, mentioned how much like a girl he looked with his long hair.  It had been meant as a joke, despite the long hair he was one of the more-broad chested of all the men there and it was unlikely anyone would mistake him for a woman.

Still, the comment was annoying and he had gotten his hands on a pair of scissors.  But as he held his hair out and the scissors were open he stopped.  He’d never cut his hair before and was trying to remember how his mother had done it and the memory had reflected in the metal of the blades he held.

Any kind of determination he’d had to shorten the locks had died away with that.

As his bangs grew over his eyes he made several attempts to cut them and managed to do that at least.  Time only seemed to make it harder to shear his locks and now he found it nearly impossible.

Zelgadis was quiet trying to discern Gourry’s expression.  He seemed to be trapped in some kind of memory and was frustrated because of it.  He couldn’t be certain what it meant to him to have left his hair uncut for so long, but he racked his brain to find a solution that would satisfy both Gourry and Lina.

“How about,” he said slowly so as not to snap but drag the swordsman out of his reverie, “I thin out your bangs so you can see through them better but leave them the same length, and just cut your hair to get rid of the split ends?  Lina hasn’t had a problem with it until now so she can’t complain, really.”

He looked at the younger man for a long moment and Zelgadis wondered if his look of surprise should be insulting or complimentary.  When a wide smile spread on his face he knew the answer.

“Thank you, Zel.”

He turned back around and settled on the bucket with a straight back.  Zelgadis shook his head with a small smile on his face and lifted the scissors again.

*

“I thought that I told you to cut that,” Lina said, tapping her foot and crossing her arms.  Her eyes swept over his hair.  His bangs looked unchanged from the outside, though they were now thin enough so that Gourry could see through them from most angles.  His hair was cut by about three inches, though with his length it wasn’t entirely noticeable.

Gourry hadn’t been entirely happy with the cut, but he liked the lack of split ends for once and was pleased with the way his bangs had turned out. The boys had considered it a success, but Lina was still displeased.

“We did,” he whined and perked up quickly.  “Feel!  It’s nice at the ends now!”

He waved his hair around a bit, irking the red-head more.  “I told you to cut it because it’s dangerous to fight with hair that long.”

“It’s not much longer than your hair,” Zelgadis pointed out, having stood out of the way until then.

She looked affronted.  “What!  My hair’s a reasonable length—OW!”

Amelia had plucked one of her hairs and skipped out of the way of the sorceress’s wrath.  Zel, understanding what she was doing, quickly plucked one of Gourry’s follicles as well before handing it to Amelia.  She lined up the hairs and pulled them to the ends.  There was a moment of silence as they waited for the verdict.

“Ah, Lina’s is longer.”

Her face turned red with embarrassment at the revelation as she stuttered for an answer.  “Well I’m not usually—My hair is—I’m a—Fine!  Keep it that way if you want!”

Amelia twisted her eyebrows at him.  “But Mr. Gourry, what about your bangs?  If you can’t see through them then fighting will be dangerous.”

He flipped them back and forth a couple times.  “I can see fine!”

“I thinned them out,” Zel added, catching that he wasn’t going to explain any further.

“Oh, well that’s okay then, right Miss Lina?”

With their eyes on her she was forced to concede.  “Yeah, okay, you get a pass for now.”

Amelia and Gourry cheered happily as she huffed, but relented a smile.  Her eyes slid over to the chimera of their group.

“Did you have something to do with this sudden rebellion?”

He rose his stony eyebrows.  “Whatever would make you think that?”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.  “You guys seem to act differently right after you get out of the bath.”

A small smile adorned his face. “I’m certain I don’t know what you mean.”


	5. Belated Celebration

Gourry said that he enjoyed the outdoor baths the most.  This night was special, he said as they were getting ready in the changing room, because it had rained earlier that day and the smell would be relaxing.  Zelgadis, though he hadn’t thought about such a thing before, was inclined to agree.  After settling themselves into the water and pouring their glasses of wine they were both happy enough to relax quietly for a while, smelling the earthy stench around them and listening to Amelia and Lina’s loud voices on the other side of the bamboo wall between them.

The girls were always loud at whatever they did.  Amelia could show temperance every now and then, likely a skill she’d gained from being a princess, but Lina didn’t seem to have any kind of off switch.  She was always at one hundred percent, Gourry had said at one point when they’d been sharing woes about their traveling companions.

Zelgadis was okay with spending the whole evening in silence, it actually almost seemed like a shame that he’d eventually have to get up and scrub at some point.  He was surprised when Gourry was the one who spoke up.

“Say, how old are you?”

He turned to Gourry, who was leaning against the side of the pool with just as much lethargy as he had been before, but was now looking at him in curiosity.  He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t wondered the same thing about the blond before, but even with his head on a little straighter it seemed like an odd question to be coming from the swordsman.

It was a rather harmless question though, so Zelgadis saw no reason to dodge it.  “Well, I actually turned sixteen a few weeks ago—”

“Sixteen?!”

The shriek was one that seemed to fit the dim-witted Gourry better than the level-headed Gourry.  And yet the intense expression he held was one that the jellyfish brain would never be able to hold for very long under normal circumstances.

Somehow, he felt embarrassed with that sort of reaction and turned away slightly so that his hair hid the light flush of his cheeks.  “Yes…” was the only answer he could come up with before sipping his wine again, hoping that perhaps Gourry would just think that the tint of his skin was due to the warm water.

The swordsman was silent for a bit, piecing things together.  “Sorry,” he finally said, his voice even again, “It’s just that you’re usually acting like the most mature one of the group.  It’s surprising.  You’re always drinking coffee and dealing with shady looking people without batting an eye so I thought you were at least nineteen or something.”

“You don’t have to be an old man to like coffee,” he argued, but his friend just laughed.

“You drink it like you’ve been feeding an addiction for years!”

He grumbled.  His taste buds weren’t quite normal since the transformation; bland tasting food seemed to not register in his mouth at all sometimes and sugar did little to energize him anymore.  The caffeine in coffee as well as the stark, bitter taste when he took it black was like a jolt to his senses that was much appreciated.  But he felt like saying all this would be a little too personal and so kept the thoughts to himself.

“That means you’re not much older—wait, you’re actually younger than Lina, because she had her birthday two months ago and she turned sixteen too!”

Lina had made a rather big deal about her turning sixteen, saying that it was a milestone in any young lady’s lifetime.  She had dropped hints that were the farthest thing from subtle that any person could hope to get about having a good birthday and they had done their best to make sure it was.  They had spent the morning letting Amelia take her shopping in a nice town that was known for its rich wares and good service, after that they had led her out into the forest where they’d hunted down a bandit camp so that Lina could have all the fun of taking them down by herself, then after they got back to the nice inn they were staying at had her relax in the bath and wash off before an all you can eat dinner, expenses paid by the boys (and Amelia’s rich father).

She had been in good spirits for weeks after that, treating her new dress with care and thinking carefully of what she wanted to do with the plunder she’d gotten from the bandits.  The whole experience had been hard on their wallets, but having a chipper Lina for so long afterwards was completely worth it.

Zelgadis sighed.  “It’s not like it’s a big deal.  People should be judged on their experiences and wisdom, not how many years they’ve lived.  I’m younger than Lina, but you said that you thought I was much older, right?”

But Gourry wasn’t listening anymore.  He had gained a pensive look that was so rare on his face that Zelgadis was actually frightened for a moment.  “Hey…I’m not forgetting like usual, right?” he asked, confusing Zel even more.  “We didn’t celebrate your birthday at all, did we?”

He felt a wave of relief.  “Oh, is that all?  I haven’t had a birthday celebrated in…four years.  I don’t mind at all.  I don’t need mounds of food and new clothes to mark a single day out of the year apart from all the rest.  I don’t think I’d like the attention much anyway.”

Gourry seemed distressed at this claim, though for what reason Zelgadis couldn’t place his finger on.  They were quiet for a while and he thought about asking Gourry how old he was exactly before the look of thought was replaced with a grin.

“So, what _was_ your last birthday celebration like?”

*

The next morning Zelgadis woke up later than usual.  After a relaxing time in the bath and finishing their bottle of wine long after the playful shouts of the girls had left, he’d gone back to his room and felt calm as he crawled into bed.

Sometimes it hurt to talk about the past.  Everything that had once seemed happy and that he’d enjoyed looking back on just seemed to hurt his chest now.  He was reminded that life would never go back to simply being happy like it had once been and the better the memory the more it stung.

But sometimes it didn’t hurt and instead he felt warm for having those memories at all and this was one of those times.  Feeling the effects of cleaning himself off in the bath, the taste of good wine, the smell of earth after rain, and the patient ears of Gourry during bath time had made a pleasant mix so that he actually felt his age.  He’d gone to bed warm, relaxed, and actually looking forward to the next day.

And while it was rare for him to get such a good night’s sleep he wasn’t one to pass it up.  So when he finally came down for breakfast, Lina and Amelia were already sitting at a table together.  An empty glass at the seat beside Lina meant that Gourry had already eaten and left for one reason or another.

In front of the seat by Amelia, however, was a plate with what looked like a slice of cake and a mug of black coffee, still steaming slightly.  Lina was splayed out on the table, looking at the cake with wide eyes and drooling over the wood.  Her hand twitched forward, as if with a mind of its own, and tried to take the plate the cake was centered on.

She ripped her hand back just in time to not be impaled by a rather sharp fork.

“Miss Lina!  It is completely and utterly unjust to take something that is not yours and this cake is most definitely _not_ _yours_!”

The red-headed sorceress gave a careless shrug, her face twisted into an expression of slyness.  “Haven’t you ever heard the phrase “finders keepers, losers weepers”?  We don’t even know who it’s supposed to be for, maybe it was left for me!”

Amelia scowled, wielding the fork in a similar manner to how Gourry would hold the Sword of Light.  “You know perfectly well that this cake is not yours!  Obviously it’s meant for—Mister Zelgadis!”

Lina _tsked_ and dropped her head into her hand, scowling at the younger girl.  “Yeah, okay, so the coffee’s kind of a dead giveaway, but I don’t think he likes sweets all that much, right?  Surely he’d want someone _else_ to enjoy it more—”

“No, Miss Lina—ugh, good morning Mister Zelgadis.  Did you sleep well?”

Lina jumped, her hair standing on end for a moment before spinning around to look at him.  He had his hood up to spare spectators, but had left the mask down for convenience sake.  He rose a stony brow at her.  “Yes, Amelia, I slept quite fine, thank you.  What’s this about finders keepers?”

Lina had the good grace to look bashful.  “Oh, it’s nothing really.  Good to hear you slept well, buddy!”

He decided to ignore the sorceress’s complete disregard for respecting his potential possessions (though he knew how she got about food and he could hardly blame her since it did look like a very good cake).  Instead he inspected his little present, wondering faintly if it was poisoned or not.

“Oh good!  I’m just in time!”

The group of three looked up just as their blond swordsman came back into the restaurant and hurried to the table they were at, something clenched in his hands.  When he had joined them he shoved a book into Zelgadis’ hands, giving a short ‘here you go!’ before going to sit back down next to Lina.

The girls looked at him in confusion while Zelgadis looked over the book.  It was the latest edition of a scientific and magical study on different plants or herbs and their many uses.  How some were good for making medicines, some were good for cooking, and others were for amplifying spells or making potions.  He looked between the cover and Gourry several times, who seemed to be unaware of the eyes that had settled on him and was flagging down a waitress to bring him more food.  Zelgadis was almost certain that he’d never mentioned that he and his parents had been healers and potion makers years ago.  Perhaps the idea for the book came from his recounting of the many times he’d explored the forest around his home town when he was younger, searching for plants he knew and bringing ones he didn’t already know back home.  He must have said something about that at some point, right?  Why else would Gourry get him a book like this?

“What’s with all this?” Lina was grilling him.  “Are you the one who left that cake here too?”

“Oh!”  Gourry started slightly, as if he’d been whacked in the head rather than simply reminded of the pastry’s presence.  He looked adorably excited though so no one dared cut him off.  “It’s called coffee cake!  The lady at the bakery said that it’s supposed to be made to be really sweet, but I asked her if she could make it more, uh, coffee-ish, you know?  I didn’t try any, but the lady said she did her best.”  He puffed out his chest a little, taking more pride in the cake than he did in a lot of more impressive things.

Zelgadis was staring between the cake and the book with open amazement, faintly aware that Amelia was staring at him with a worried expression.  Normally he would have shrunk away from the continuous gaze whether it was from a friend or not, but he was still so shocked that it barely even registered.  Gourry had done this for him?

“What’s up with you this morning?” Lina said with a frustrated huff.  “Why are you spoiling Zel like this all of a sudden?  Where’s _my_ cake?!”

Gourry tipped his head to the side, seeming to think hard on the first two questions if not the third.  After a few moments passed where they all prepared for some kind of idiotic response, he didn’t disappoint.  “Gee, I don’t remember!  Hey Zelgadis, do you remember why you need cake and gifts this morning?”

And though he had the same expression as a jellyfish brain, Zelgadis couldn’t help but notice the wording and wonder if he wasn’t quite as scatterbrained as they thought he was.

So he did something he rarely did.  He not only smiled, something that happened once a week if he was lucky, but he laughed.  It wasn’t fake or difficult either, just seemed to come about of its own volition whether Zelgadis would have wanted it to or not.

“You know Gourry?  I have no idea either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently remembered that I had forgotten to post this chapter.  
> I had written half of a chapter 6 ages ago, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I was headed with it and haven't watched/read Slayers in a long time so I'm probably not going to continue this series any further. I'm still going to go looking for the comics and enjoy those, but unless sudden inspiration hits me I think I can pretty confidently say that this series is complete.  
> Thank you all for reading! I hope you all finish any series you're working on before you forget what they were about, haha!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters will all be around this length, I think. I'm going to try and switch them back and forth so that one focuses on Zel then on Gourry and so on. I will say that I haven't watched Slayers past NEXT, so some of the things I write might not match up with canon. I have my own ideas about their pasts, and don't have the materials or knowledge of whether anything about their years before traveling with Lina were ever expanded upon beyond a few comments in one or two episodes.
> 
> In any case, I hope you enjoy this, and I plan on updating a new chapter every Saturday. If I decide to do more than six chapters, I'll let you know.


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